William Howard Taft: At 335 Pounds

severe obesity

"Not much can be said about Taft's health without saying a great deal about his size"
1a.
Taft was 5 feet 11.5 inches tall
2.
He weighed 243 pounds when he graduated from college
3a
and, by all accounts, carried it well. By age 48, when he had been Secretary of War for two
years, he weighed 320 pounds
3b.
Under the guidance of English physician
Dr. N. E. Yorke-Davies,
he lost 70 pounds over the next year and a half
3b.
But two years after that, he was once again over 300 pounds
MORE.
He weighed 335-340 pounds when he left the White House [see photo
SEE BELOW
]. He then lost weight rapidly, dropping to 270 in a year and a half. The summer before he
died, he weighed 244 pounds, just one pound more than his college weight. Details and graphs
are available on the Apneos web site and in reference
4.

Taft was big almost from birth. It's clear, however, that he had an enormous appetite.
MORE

Taft's size impressed some people, but often made him the butt of jokes
MORE.
Note: Judged solely by body mass index, a 5-foot 11-inch person weighing more than 290 pounds
is severely obese.

More...

The photograph below shows Taft at his peak weight: 335-340 pounds.

The photo is held by the Library of Congress and is available on their web site in glorious 10MB resolution.
Their title for the photo is:
"President-elect
Wilson
and President Taft standing side by side, laughing, at the White House, prior to Wilson's inauguration ceremonies, March 4, 1913."
Wilson had not yet taken the oath of office, so he was still the President-elect.

(The photographer snapped the picture just after Wilson had made a comment about a young woman nearby.)

Cited Sources

Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994.

Comment: Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.